Hey Lupa Cotta, How Do you like your Eggs?
I ask another chef how they eat their breakfast. Enjoy!
I am so excited about today’s newsletter! Meet Ines Barlerin Glaser - of Lupa Cotta fame, and arguably LA’s coolest and most talented Pizza Queen.
She and I are good friends now, but before we were hanging out in real life we were crushing on each other HARD via instagram. If you have had the pleasure of eating her pizza (and food in general), I don’t have to tell you how special it is. But if you haven’t, I can sum it up best by saying Ines (or Nechi) uses her keen palette, her international upbringing, and her zest for life to make food that is exciting and super memorable. From her dough technique to her use of market forward ingredients, she knows how to take the simple and make it extraordinary. As a dough queen there is usually a batch slowly fermenting away at her house and she’s not afraid to see what happens when she throws it in the oven and gives it a last chance at life. I love this about her. If you don’t already, you should follow her on IG.
I asked Ines how she likes her eggs, here’s how that went.
Zoë: Hey Nechi! Thanks for doing this. All of your breakfasts look divine, I can’t wait to make some of them this weekend, tbh. Do you remember the first breakfast (involving eggs) you learned how to make as a kid?
Ines: It must have been when I was ten. I started making breakfast sandwiches with fried leftover boloney/mortadella and gooey melted cheese. Cooking eggs brought me joy and my first feelings of independence.
Zoë: Yum, I get that. I think cooking eggs as a kid is one of those defining moments where you feel so accomplished because you are trusted to do it yourself. Like a kitchen milestone. How would you say you go about deciding the method of cooking your eggs on a given morning? Is it random? A mood? Ingredient driven?
Ines: Egg choice is definitely a mood. Of course ingredients do help decide who you are going to be that day.
Zoë: Give me your most memorable egg dish you’ve ever eaten anywhere in the world.
Ines: SO TOUGH. I think there's something so magic about a soufflé. Perhaps memories of my mom cooking a soufflé for our family when we lived in Paris. Always here for anything that makes me feel I'm like Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina.
Zoë: Chic. Who would be your dream guest to cook eggs for - dead or alive?
Ines: On that note…maybe Audrey Hepburn.
Zoë: Chic!!! Final question before we get into your breakfasts. Which came first?
Ines: Definitely the egg.
There you have it, folks!
Focaccia DOUBLE Toad in a Hole (click here for BONUS cozy rainy day video !!!)
Let that sink in. Not one but TWO eggs nestled into a beautifully golden toasted slice of focaccia. Genius. It’s twice the fun! Double the dipping! That side of bacon means the whole things can cooked up in the bacon grease which is arguably the best way to do anything. I would happily introduce this into my line up any day of the week, but a rainy weekend morning feels fitting.
7 Minute Eggs with Turkey Meatballs and a Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette
Mastering your favorite boiled eggs is a mark of adulthood in some cultures. I made that up but it sounded good, right? In this case, a 7 minute egg (bring a pot of water to a gentle boil, carefully lower your eggs in, simmer for a timed 7 minutes, remove to an ice bath) is a good method for preserving a glistening center while ensuring a firm white. Pair that with leftovers of any kind and salad and you are making breakfast at home that would quite literally cost you $18 in a restaurant in LA.
Soft Scramble with Sautéed Farmers Market Greens
One thing Nechi and I have in common is our devotion to the incredible farmers and markets throughout LA. Living on the west side means she is frequenting the pinnacle of locally grown bounty - the Santa Monica Farmers Market. I love a simple breakfast that makes me feel like I’m sampling all that is good about our green earth and putting into my body. A heaping pile of greens like this is exactly that. I’m all, “good job, Me,” after a breakfast like this one. Ines sautéed these collards and kale with olive oil and salt, added a little chili flake and lemon at the end. Perfect in every way.
Leftover Pizza Dough Bagels with Tinned Fish, 7 Minute Eggs, and all the Accoutrement
Genius does not begin to describe the art of turning pizza dough into bagels!! This one really blew my mind. I am a bagel maker myself and I cannot even imagine how I have overlooked this idea. In this case making a breakfast board feels fresh and right for the occasion. A little caper action, some jammy eggs, tinned fish. Breakfast with a capital “B” for sure.
How do you like your eggs? We are going strong with this one! Next week I’m off to Israel to be with family. I will share some incredible ways we breakfast in Tel Aviv. Stay Tuned!!